Is state DOT distracting drivers with travel times?

Q: Why does DOT think it’s important to display approximate travel times on the variable message boards?

The information seems to be of little value since the estimated travel times are significant enough to cover a wide range of speeds, and drivers have very little control over travel times. DOT always maintained that the boards would not be “overused” and risk minimizing their value for emergency messages, but it appears they have changed their thinking on that.

— Steve Bennett, Queensbury

A: The Federal Highway Administration set the guidelines on using such signs, said Mark Pyskadlo of the state Department of Transportation.
“The policy states that providing travel time information is an excellent method of notifying motorists about current conditions in a manner that can be easily interpreted and understood,” he said. “By regularly displaying travel time messages, NYSDOT provides motorists information that will allow them to choose the route to their destination.”

A commuter can decide to take an alternate route if the projected travel time is longer than usual, Pyskadlo said. Motorists can also seek more information by possibly listening to travel reports on the radio or calling 511 on their cell phones (as long as they use a hand’s free one), he added.

The state DOT started displaying actual travel times in July 2009 on some of its variable message boards in the Capital Region during peak travel times.

“These times are derived from vehicle speed detectors embedded in the highway pavement,” Pyskadlo said. “The posted times will never be lower than the time it takes to travel the specified section of highway at the posted speed limit. However, the times will increase when the existing conditions are such that there are delays on the specified highway segment.”

He suggested a few websites for more information.

To learn about the federal highway
More information on FHWA travel time policy, visit here.

For details on state DOT’s display of time travel information, visit here.

For answers to some frequently asked questions about how the state calculates travel times, you can visit here.

Personally, I think the “travel time” signs cause more harm than good. I see people regularily slowing down so they can read them. What would be most effective is if the signs only displayed trouble information. This is just a prelude to signs that say stuff like “3-5 minutes to Everett Road, Sponsored by Price Chopper.”

For some reason you completely missed the purpose of the recent question about message boards. The real question is: “Why are these boards used daily to provide NORMAL travel times, when they’d be more effective if used to signify TRAVEL DELAYS?

After traveling the Northway for 25 years, the last several suffering with the message boards I can tell you that:

1. Because of their placement in the southbound land, some drivers come around the curve in the road and see the lights before realizing that the information is the same as it’s been for a year. The only problem is that the drivers hit their brakes out of habit.

2. Because the signs are on every day with basically the same information, no one will pay attention when the reported travel times indicate an accident ahead except those who brake at every lit sign. For a historical/fictional perspective see “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.

All the information about how DOT calculates travel times and what the US DOT says about the message boards makes me think that Peter is alive and well and working as a media consultant.

Once I am on the Northway, it’s too late. What good is that sign to me if there is only time it “should” take me to get there? When I get to 90 and it’s totally blocked and backed up, what benefit did I recieve? None. That sign on 87 S is totally useless and I am not distracted. A sign will not help me get out of the house early if there is going to be higher levels of traffic than “normal”.

DOT – why don’t you invest in giving drivers the ability to have messages show up on their cell phone. NYS Residents can pay for the applications and you can make it compatible with all 3g/4g providers. The user can pay a nominal fee, the state makes money and when I wake up in the morning (cell alarm), I can check the weather (cell) and traffic (no cell).

We have a group of leaders in this state that are not ready to adapt and get with the times. Innovation spurs economic development, not taxes! Get the cavemen and dinosaurs out of their positions; their methods are outdated and obsolete. Technology is the key to growth since the inception of the Industrial Revolution. Signs that look like Light Bright are not cost effective or effective for drivers. Congratulations DOT – you managed to waste even MORE money than usual. Imagine how many people in NYC would pay to have traffic updates. Users could update as they sit in traffic jams. (Most phones are voice activated. I dont type any texts anymore, I just speak into the phone).

Mark, the Federal guidelines are only that; guidelines. That doesn’t mean we should be following ALL the guidelines. That means some moron in Washington is being paid to determine what is best in a completely general and useless manner. Those signs are useless.

I saw on CSPAN the other weeks a presentation from a Federal Agency on travel safety go over a two year study about the effects of aging population on driver safety. What took two years and millions of dollars for them to figure out, I could have told you for free. OLD PEOPLE ARE BAD DRIVERS!!!! LOL…..that is an example of the excess gov’t fat that needs to be trimmed or we are going to have serious debt problems for many many many more years.

What I want to know, is why do these signs show “normal” travel time, even when there ARE significant delays? I can remember a number of times over the summer when the southbound weekend tourist traffic was backed up to exit 2 from the Thruway, yet the signs made no mention of these delays whatsoever.

It would have been especially helpful for the one by Riverview Road in Halfmoon to mention this, so I could have taken Alternate 7 to avoid this traffic.

twopondsnorth is absolutely correct! When the message boards were initially installed, DOT always insisted that they would not be overused so as to maintain their value for emergency messages. This is clearly no longer the case. If you calculate the travel times, the range of speed necessary to achieve the times is so large that even if there is a delay, it would never be reflected in range of travel time provided. Also, I travel the northway every day and have yet to see the times changed, even when at a standstill due to an accident or disabled vehicle. Sorry DOT, I’m not buying your manufactured explanation.

Locally we don’t need times on these signs anyone who thinks so needs to drive in real traffic like the NJ turnpike, I-90 Boston. A couple of weeks ago while driving southbound on 87 through Colonie weekday 2pm mature accident scene firetrucks, SP’s, Colonie ambulance all three southbound lanes pushed to one on the shoulder signs stills read 6-8 minutes to 90! What a waste of technology and tax money.